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Naughty and Nice Recipes...

Holiday time is here and so are the cookies, the candy, the casseroles and all those delectable dips and party foods! I would be lying if I said all my holiday eats were perfectly balanced. I’m already dreaming about the bacon wrapped cracker nibbles and ham biscuits my friend Gail makes (recipes are on epicuricloud.com). My friend Annie has already dropped off some of her amazing Russian tea cake cookies. I squirreled them away, hidden from the rest of the family (Shh, don’t tell!) But I do try to maintain some sort of balance between all the parties. One of my latest recipes is a good bit naughty and a little bit nice. They are Peppermint Bark Pretzels! The pretzel makes it a little less naughty – right?I figure it just has to be healthier than a chocolate covered piece of cheesecake… Well healthy or not, the mild peppermint flavor and crushed candy canes really spruce up the basic chocolate dipped pretzel. They are quick and easy to assemble and they make a really nice homemade gift!

Directions:Line two large baking sheets with wax paper or parchment. In medium microwave safe bowl, melt semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon shortening by microwaving for 30-second intervals, stirring between, until melted.Dip and spoon melted chocolate onto pretzel rod, leaving about 1-inch at the top undipped. Use the back of the spoon to swirl off excess chocolate. Place on lined baking sheets and chill in refrigerator for 10 minutes to set.

In medium microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon shortening by microwaving for 30-second intervals, stirring between, until melted. Stir in peppermint extract. Spoon the melted chocolate mixture into a piping bag or zip top bag. Snip a small hole in the corner of the zip bag and drizzle the white chocolate over the pretzels. Sprinkle them with the crushed candy canes. When set, store in an airtight container.

Note: To crush the candy canes, you can break them up into 1-inch pieces and pulse them in the food processor or just place them in a zip top bag and whack them around.

epicuricloud

Welcome to epicuricloud! I hope you'll spend some time in the cloud with me! I'll be posting creative recipes, stories of my cooking contest adventures and writing about the backstory of recipes: the Recipe Roots™.